The Economy, Sectors, and Rural & Marine Landscapes

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering economic systems, agents, sectors, cycles, globalisation, sustainability, and rural and marine agricultural landscapes.

Economics

The study of the production and distribution of goods and services.

Economic Activity

The process of producing, buying, or selling a product or service to satisfy human needs.

Production

The phase of the economic process that encompasses activities that produce goods or services.

Commercialisation

The phase of the economic process that involves the distribution and sale of goods or services.

Consumption

The phase of the economic process where goods or services are bought to satisfy a need.

Consumers

Economic agents who purchase goods and services to satisfy their needs.

Businesses

Economic agents that produce and sell goods and services.

The Public Sector

An economic agent consisting of the state and regional governments that taxes consumers and businesses in order to provide public services.

Primary Sector

The sector of the economy comprising activities directly related to natural resources, including agriculture, fishing, forestry, and mining.

Secondary Sector

The sector of the economy that transforms raw materials into products, including industry, energy, and construction.

Tertiary Sector

The sector of the economy comprising activities which do not produce a physical product, such as healthcare, education, retail, banking, and transport.

Quaternary Sector

The sector of the economy based on information and knowledge-driven activities, including finance, information, technology, and telecommunications.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total money value of all goods and services produced in a country over a period of time, usually a year.

Per Capita GDP

The total GDP of a country divided by its total population.

Economic Cycle

The recurring fluctuations of economic activity, typically passing through three main phases: expansion, recession, and stagnation.

Expansion

The phase of the economic cycle characterized by economic growth and investment in improvements to production, with capital sourced from business profits and personal savings of families.

Recession

The phase of the economic cycle where production, savings, and investments decrease, unemployment typically increases, and economic crises occur.

Stagnation

The phase of the economic cycle where the economy is stable but experiences no growth.

Positive Balance of Payments

A condition in an economic cycle where the incoming movement of capital and exported goods and services exceeds outgoing capital and imported goods and services.

Negative Balance of Payments

A condition in an economic cycle where the outgoing movement of capital and imported goods and services is greater than incoming capital and exported goods and services.

Economic System

The framework resulting from the decisions that a country makes regarding how to organise its economy and manage its resources.

Planned or Command Economy

An economic system used in communist states, such as North Korea, where the state makes all economic decisions, owns all production capital, determines what and how much to produce, sets prices, and aims for equality.

Free Market Economy

An economic system used in capitalist states where state intervention is minimal, capital is privately owned, and private companies determine production, output, and pricing based on efficiency and innovation.

Mixed Economy

A variant of the market economy, found in European countries, in which the state intervenes to guarantee basic needs and uses taxation to fund pensions, public services, and infrastructure.

Law of Supply and Demand

The market principle determining product prices: if supply is greater than demand, prices decrease, whereas if demand is greater than supply, prices increase.

Free Competition

A feature of capitalist economies that allows any business to compete freely in the market to sell any product or service.

Stock Exchange

A financial market where shares in businesses are bought and sold, allowing companies to raise capital in exchange for partial company ownership.

Advertising

A commercial practice used by businesses to persuade customers to purchase their goods or services.

Globalisation

The worldwide interconnectedness of economies, trade, finance, culture, and politics, driven by free-market systems, transport advances, and telecommunications.

Multinationals

Large companies that operate locations in more than one country, with head offices and subsidiaries typically based in developed countries.

Offshoring

The process by which companies relocate operations from developed to less developed countries to increase profits through cheaper labour.

Economic Integration

The coordination of trade among countries through a single currency, common economic policy, and the elimination of duties on imported and exported goods.

Trade Unions

Organizations established to protect workers' rights and mediate labour conflicts with employers, globally coordinated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Economic Sustainability

A system of economic values and production designed for long-term viability by taking into account social responsibility and respect for the environment.

Social Responsible Business (SRB)

A enterprise that complies with sustainable and ethical practices regarding social responsibility and environmental protection.

United Nations Global Compact

An international initiative whose principles include supporting human rights, upholding trade union rights, eliminating child and forced labour, fighting environmental issues, and combating corruption.

Humus

An organic component of soil derived from decomposed matter that is necessary to fertilise the soil for agriculture.

Smallholdings

Agricultural plots of land that measure less than $10\,\text{hectares}$.

Large Farms

Agricultural plots of land that measure more than $100\,\text{hectares}$.

Open-Field Systems

Agricultural field patterns that have no visible boundaries, hedgerows, or fences separating adjacent plots.

Enclosed Field Systems

Agricultural field patterns where individual plots are separated by visible fences or hedgerows.

Monoculture

An agricultural system in which a farm produces only a single type of crop.

Polyculture

An agricultural system in which multiple distinct varieties of crops are cultivated together in the same area.

Dry Crops

Crops cultivated in farming systems that rely solely on natural rainfall rather than artificial watering.

Irrigated Crops

Crops that require the artificial application of water to the farmland through technical distribution systems.

Subsistence Agriculture

Traditional farming wherein farmers generate food solely for themselves and their families without using modern technology or selling surplus products.

Modern Agriculture

Commercial farming driven by investment in modern technologies (such as sanding, hydroponic farms, greenhouse cultivation, mulching, and biotechnology) that produces marketable surpluses.

Extensive Livestock Farm

An animal farming practice where small numbers of animals graze in open meadows or are herded, typically managed as family farms.

Intensive Livestock Farm

A high-productivity animal farming system where livestock are kept indoors inside modern buildings, often located where land is scarce, which can cause environmental damage.

Forestry

The exploitation of forests for raw materials and biomass fuels combined with active management, maintenance, and replanting to avoid destruction.

Atlantic or Oceanic Landscape

An agricultural landscape found in northern and north-eastern Spain and western Europe, characterized by wet, mountainous terrain, moderate temperatures, abundant precipitation year-round, smallholdings, and intensive polyculture or livestock farming.

Volcanic Landscape

An agricultural landscape in the Canary Islands featuring good soil, a subtropical climate, smallholdings, export crops, and specialized technologies such as irrigation, sanding (Lanzarote), and terrace farming (La Gomera).

Interior Mediterranean Landscape

An agricultural landscape of inland Spain characterized by extensive farms growing cereal crops (rye, wheat, and oats) and extensive vineyards in regions such as Navarra and La Rioja.

Blue Economy

Economic activities centered on the utilization, exploitation, and preservation of ocean and sea resources.

Coastal Fishing

Marine fishing operations carried out in coastal waters near the shoreline.

Deep-Sea Fishing

Marine fishing operations conducted far out at sea that require a large, equipped fleet of vessels.

Seine Fishing

A fishing technique that involves deploying a surrounding net from a vessel to encircle a school of fish in the water.

Longlines

A fishing technique that utilizes a long main line suspended near the surface by buoys from which numerous vertical lines with baited hooks branch off.

Trawling

A fishing technique that involves pulling a large, cone-shaped bag net through the sea behind a powered vessel.

Trap Nets

A fishing technique using fixed net mazes and enclosures anchored in shallow waters to guide and capture passing fish.

Aquaculture

The commercial breeding, rearing, and harvesting of aquatic species in underwater facilities known as fish farms.

World Food Programme

A United Nations humanitarian agency working to solve global hunger by ensuring that people have physical and economic access to food.